Gary Duncan
The Australian
April 14, 2005

Washington: Outgoing World Bank chief James Wolfensohn has fired a parting shot at Tony Blair, warning that the British Prime Minister’s credibility was on the line over his foundering attempts to relieve poverty in Africa.

In a hard-hitting joint report, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund said that “bold and urgent action” by wealthy nations was now needed if the millennium development goals under which they pledged to end extreme Third World poverty by 2015 were not to be missed.

In a blunt message that the standing of Mr Blair and other leaders from rich countries was on the line, Mr Wolfensohn said “the credibility of the entire development community is at stake as never before.”

Mr Wolfensohn also lamented yesterday that he had spent his past five years at the helm of the development agency mostly at odds with the Bush administration in Washington, which kept him at arm’s length.

“The Bush administration had less confidence in me . . . although I am saddened by it because I was never partial to Democrats or Republicans,” said Mr Wolfensohn, who will be replaced by US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz in June.

Australian-born Mr Wolfensohn, a Clinton appointee who became a US citizen to take the job, failed to win a third term when the Bush administration made it clear it wanted its own person to take control at the development bank.

“We got our work done but I never had the backing . . . and in the case of most presidents of the bank, they have been backed by somebody,” Mr Wolfensohn said.

“That is not a bad thing but it would have been very comfortable if I could have called somebody and said ‘I need your help on something’.”

Senior World Bank and IMF officials said there were doubts over whether tangible progress towards boosting aid, debt relief and other development efforts would be now achieved in time for July’s G8 summit of the Group of Seven leading economies and Russia, to be hosted by Mr Blair.

Mr Blair has put the delivery of relief to Africa at the heart of his agenda for Britain’s G8 presidency this year.

But with just three months left until the leaders gather, British efforts to reach a deal on concrete measures that can be signed off at the summit are bogged down in disagreement between the countries, notably with the US.

Mr Wolfensohn stepped up pressure for the G7 countries to resolve their differences and agree on action.

“Rich countries must now deliver on the promises they have made in terms of aid, trade and debt relief,” he said.

He added that developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, also needed “to aim higher and do better in terms of their own policies and governance, and to make more effective use of aid.”

Some officials at the IMF and World Bank are also concerned that Britain’s general election battle may distract Mr Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown from their commitment to the development effort.

Officials in Washington expect that Mr Brown will cut short his usual lengthy talks with fellow finance ministers and senior policymakers at the IMF and World Bank meetings in the US capital this week.

The Times, Reuters